Iddon tops combined times on final day at Cartagena

Tyco BMW’s Christian Iddon found a chunk of pace on the final day of BSB testing at Cartagena to top the combined timesheets and edge closer to Luke Mossey’s outright lap record.

Iddon set a 1’32.5 on the S1000RR, which edged reigning champion Shane Byrne off the top by two tenths, and was two-tenths behind Mossey’s 1’32.3 set on the JG Speedfit Kawasaki last season.

Iddon and the team had been working on the electronics before their final run of the day, when the Tyco BMW rider was able to substantially improve on his previous best lap time.

“It has been a very frustrating test for me to be fair; you have five days and it seems like you have a lot of time but the sessions are really short and it wasn’t until this last day that we got to work properly. I got to a bit of a lap time block and it didn’t seem to matter what we did. Myself and Michael had been splitting the workload and that is the good thing about having him as a team-mate as we have been sharing feedback,” said Iddon.

“It wasn’t until the final exit that I really found any sort of forward progress and I can’t too excited really as it was only a couple of laps where we really improved. We need to further analysis it, but I am happy that we made progress from last year and the bike feels easier to ride. As ever with racing, there is always more to do!”

Byrne’s time from the Be Wiser Ducati’s two day test at Cartagena still put the six-time champion second on the times, just ahead of Jake Dixon on the RAF Regular & Reserves Kawasaki as the team improved on their final day and felt in a much stronger position ahead of the official test at Donington Park on March 20.

Tommy Bridewell was also able to improve his pace on the final day, the Movuno.com Halsall Racing Suzuki rider worked on geometry and balance of the new Suzuki and is feeling confident ahead of the opening round at Donington Park.

Michael Laverty had been sharing the workload with Iddon and was able to run times in the low 1m:33s barrier, just ahead of Superbike rookie Gino Rea who makes his debut with the OMG Racing Suzuki team.

Danny Buchan set his fastest lap on the penultimate day before a crash halted the progress of the FS-3 Racing Kawasaki team with rookie Tarran Mackenzie proving he has already adapted well to the Superbike already by also running consistently in the 1m:33s.

Josh Brookes had been working through a test programme, working through the chassis set up, but admitted he needed further focus on engine braking as conditions hampered their progress on the final afternoon.